MEET DR. JP

Dr. Jeannie Purchase

Infrastructure strategist. Civil engineer. Strategic operator.

My work has taken me across research, engineering, infrastructure delivery, program management, and organizational strategy. Much of what I know about how organizations work came from being responsible for getting complicated things done.

I learned quickly that the technical problem is rarely the only problem.

01 | I learned this work through infrastructure.

My background is in civil and biosystems engineering, with much of my career focused on water and infrastructure. Across research, utilities, consulting, and large-scale programs, I learned that a process can look right on paper and still break down in practice.

That made me pay closer attention to the conditions around the work: the people, systems, relationships, and changing circumstances that ultimately shape the outcome.

02 | I started paying attention to how work actually gets done.

I started paying attention to how work actually gets done: who knows what, who makes decisions, where information moves, and who or what becomes the workaround when things break down.

That thinking became part of the foundation for Infrastructure Ecosystem Design and, eventually, HSI.

03 | The people doing the work matter to me, too.

I know what it feels like when doing your job becomes harder than it needs to be. As a leader, I’ve also seen what it costs when people are expected to continually absorb the gaps around the work.

I care deeply about protecting the people carrying those outcomes. That’s what moving from enduring to sustaining means to me.

04 | My work now extends beyond infrastructure.

Infrastructure remains an important part of my expertise, but the lessons extend beyond it. Today, I use strategic operations and ecosystem design to help organizations create healthier, more sustainable ways to get work done.

The industry may change, but the question remains:

What conditions help people keep achieving what matters as things change?”

06 | Why HSI?

Because there is a human side to every system we build.

I believe good systems should account for how people actually work rather than require people to continually compensate for how the system was designed.